2020年经济学人 莱克星顿专栏--美国大选之战的缩影(3)（在线收听）

“It multiplies,” said Mrs Frey enigmatically, as she walked away. Though she knocked on “over 3,000 doors” in 2016, she did not seem used to such pushback. Modern campaigns aim canvassers almost exclusively at likely voters for their own side; she had kindly decided to knock on every door mainly as a favour to Lexington. It was also apparent from her assertions, which tended to be untrue, that Mrs Frey inhabited a deep realm of the Trump bubble.

弗雷女士莫名其妙地说，“它”，随即离开了。尽管她在2016年敲开了“3000多扇门”，但她似乎从未遭遇过这样的拒绝。现代竞选活动旨在让几乎所有的拉票人尽可能为自己的一方争取选民；她善意地决定敲开每一扇门，主要是为了帮助笔者。从弗雷女士不真实的声称中也可以明显看出，她已然深陷于“特朗普泡沫”而无法自拔。

Considering much of Fox News “too liberal”, she got her news from the far-right One America News Network and Epoch Times, a pro-Trump newspaper produced by the Falun Gong sect that has spread the anti-Semitic QAnon conspiracy. When she encountered a like-minded voter, her relief was palpable. On their doorsteps she referred to Joe Biden as a “communist” and any self-professed Christians who voted Democratic as “Satan-worshippers”.

考虑到福克斯新闻“过于自由”，她从极右翼的全体美国新闻网和《大纪元时报》（一份由法轮功制作的支持特朗普的报纸，传播了卡农的反犹阴谋论）找到了自己想要的新闻。当她遇到一位志同道合的选民时，她的欣慰之情溢于言表。在他们家门口，她把乔·拜登称为“共产主义者”，并称任何自称即基督徒却投票支持民主党的都是“撒旦崇拜者”。

Lee Drutman, a political scientist, attributes the mutual loathing of America’s political tribes to three things: cultural sorting (including media bubbles); the slim margins of national elections, which makes them seem existential to both sides; and the nationalisation of politics, which has bulldozed local concerns that once girded communities. All are evident in Easton—though its muchprovoked voters live cheek-by-jowl. What lessons does that offer?

政治学家李·德鲁特曼将美国政治部落之间的的相互憎恶归结为三个方面：文化类别（包括媒体泡沫）；美国大选的微弱优势导致选举双方相互憎恶；以及政治的国有化消除了一度困扰美国社区的担忧。在伊斯顿，所有这些都是显而易见的，尽管当地的选民们紧密生活在一起。这提供了什么教训？

One is that politics exaggerates reality. While several voters expressed unease about their neighbours’ allegiances, your columnist saw nothing to suggest a community anything like as divided as the political views its members expressed. On a sunny Saturday morning, Trumpers and anti-Trumps mowed lawns and walked dogs together. Outside elections, most of them probably give politics little thought. Given the state of things, that is consoling.

一是政治夸大了实际情况。尽管一些选民为他们的邻居的拥护对象而十分不安，笔者还是认为没有任何迹象表明社区会分裂，就像社区成员表达的政治观点分歧那样。在一个阳光明媚的周六早晨，支持特朗普的人和反对特朗普的人一起修剪草坪，遛狗。在选举之外，他们中的大多数人可能很少考虑政治问题。从目前的情况来看，这是一种安慰。

Yet this election will prove harder to recover from—because Republicans, taking their cues from the president, are already trying to invalidate it. Almost Mrs Frey’s first words to your columnist were: “We’re trying to win without stuffing ballots, we’re the Republican Party.” She repeatedly assured voters that mail-in voting was fraudulent. This promises a new order of conflict for a society whose forbearance cannot be counted on indefinitely.

然而事实证明，这次选举将更难恢复，因为共和党人从总统那里得到了暗示，他们已经试图使选举无效。弗雷女士对笔者说的第一句话几乎是：“我们要在不增加选票的情况下获胜，我们是共和党。”她反复向选民保证，邮寄投票是欺诈性的。我们不能指望社会是无限期的包容的，而他们的所作所为可能会给我们社会带来了新的冲突秩序。